Sewer or drain



July 17, 1934. J. H. RAFFERTY SEWER OR DRAIN Filed June 12, 1931 iyul N VEN TOR.

A TTORNEYS i i l l Patented July 17, 1934 UETE STATE narrate SEWER OR DRAIN John H. Rafierty, Houston, Tex.

Application June 12, 1931, Serial No. 543,979

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to a new and improved sewer or drain for a street or roadway and to a new method of constructing a sewer or drain.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a new and improved drain or sewer which can be effectively used in fiat localities, as well as in sloping or hilly localities.

Another object of the invention is the elimination of ponding of surface water at street intersections.

Another object of the invention is the elimination of the circular type of drain or sewer now usually employed and placed usually about midway between the curbs or sides of the street or roadway. The present invention not only enables the elimination or" this circular or barrel type of sewer or drain, but also eliminates the use of manholes and sewer leads usually employed in connection therewith. The present invention affords further distinct advantages over the said circular or barrel type sewer in that sewers or drains'constructed in accordance with the present invention are cheaper to construct, require no costly street excavations, or greatly reduce the cost of excavation, and may be efiectively used on fiat grades, which latter advantage eliminates costly street excavations in establishing a grade.

The present invention also allows for the ready collection of storm or rain water from abutting property under the sidewalk area instead of over the surface thereof.

The present invention also enables box culverts and the dangerous valley gutters to be eliminated at street intersections.

Another advantage of the present invention is that it substantially prevents the accumulation of deposits in the sewer or drain, because the storm water being collected from flat or substantially fiat surfaces carries only such matter in suspension as the flowing of the water on the flat surface into the drain inlets is capable of keeping in suspension while moving into said inlets, while the grade or slope of the sewer or drain into which the water flows is in excess of the slight head under which the surface waters may be moving to said inlets. Thus the velocity of the water in the drain will be greater than the velocity of the water moving to the drain, and hence whatever matter was carried in suspension into the drain will be retained in suspension after reaching the drain.

A further object of the present invention is to efiect frequent collection of surface or storm water along a block or square instead of at street intersections only or only at widely separated points.

By effecting this frequent collection along a street or roadway, water falling on a street or roadway may be quickly brought below the surface in sewers or drains, thus avoiding the accumulations of water or flat grades because of its inability to flow quickly and readily to a distant sewer inlet.

The present invention has a further object in providing a sewer or drain construction or sewer which may be constructed silnultaneouly with paving operations. The present drain is poured or constructed from concrete simultaneously with pouring a concrete road, or poured or constructed simultaneously with the preparation of a concrete base or" an asphalt road or street. Thus the present invention eliminates the inconvenience and hazards incident to the construction of underground storm structures in advance of paving operations.

For a full understanding of the invention and the merits thereof, and also to acquire a knowledge of the details of construction and of the means for effecting the results and objects, and of the manner of practicing the invention, the invention is described in the following description in connection with the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a perspective view partly in section of a street including sewers or rains constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Figures 2 and 3 represent perspective views partly in section showing details of construction of the drains or sewers constructed in accordance with the present invention.

In the drawing, the numeral 1 indicates the asphalt or other surface of the street and carried upon the concrete base 2. The curbs along the street are indicated by the numeral 3 and are adjacent the sidewalks 4 as is usual. According to the present invention the curbs 3 are extended downwardly to form a wall 5 on each side of the street extending below the bottom or" the street base 2. Parallel to each of the walls 5 and spaced inwardly therefrom are walls 6. The walls 5 and 6 are connected or covered across their tops by means of the bottom of the surface gutter 7, and the space between the lower ends of the walls 5 and 6 is closed by means of the base 8. The walls 5 and 6, and the bottom of the surface gutter 7 and the base 8 are joined as shown in the drawing to form a drain or sewer 9 of rectangular cross section below the surface of the street. The curbs 3, walls 5 and 6, gutter 7 and base 8 are constructed of concrete and poured into position as a monolith, using collapsible forms for pouring the concrete, when the base 2 of the street is poured from concrete.

Grids 10 opening into the drain or sewer 9 are placed at frequent intervals in the gutter '7. The grids 10 may be placed in the position indicated as frequently as every twenty or thirty feet. A suflicient number of grids must be employed along the gutters 7 as to effectively carry out from the gutters 7 the surface water directed to the gutters '7 by the crown of the pavement or street. The number of grids 10 must be such, therefore, to prevent any appreciable accumula tion of water in the gutters '7 either at street intersections or along the street between intersections.

The bottom or base 8 of the drain or sewer 9 is given a grade suflicient in amount to maintain the velocity of the water in the drain or sewer sufficiently high or sufficiently in excess of the velocity of entry or collection as to prevent the deposit of suspended matter from the water in the drain or sewer. The drains or sewers 9 as will be understood by the person skilled in the art will discharge their water into larger sewers serving as accumulators or receivers from sewers or drains 9.

The tops of the grids 10 are preferably removable in order to permit cleaning and inspection of the drains 9 and in order to permit withdrawal of the collapsible forms used in constructing the drains 9 of poured concrete.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2 additional concrete conduits 15 may be formed adjacent to and parallel to the drains 9 and divided into four compartments as shown by walls 16 or into any desired number of compartments, for forming housing for gas mains, water mains, electric and telephone wires or cables etc. However, as shown in Figure 3 of the drawing, the present invention may be employed without the conduits 15. When the conduits 15 are employed they may be poured from concrete simultaneously with sewers 9.

The numeral 17 indicates conduits adapted to carry storm or surface waters from adjacent property into the drains or sewers 9.

The portion of the drain 9 which carries the water, while shown in the drawing as having a rectangular cross section, may have any suitable cross-sectional shape. Especially in flat countries, the depth, or vertical ordinate, of the drain 9 should increase in direction of the flow of the water in the drain, whereby the cross sectional area of the portion of the drain which carries the water will increase in the direction of flow. That is to say, the interior of the top wall of the drain 9, in the modification shown in the drawing, is made to run parallel with the surface of the street while the interior of the bottom of the drain 9 is made to slope, whereby the volume of a unit of length of the drain or sewer increases in the direction of the slope or flow of water in the drain. construction increases the capacity of the sewer along points of collection without substantially reducing the velocity of the flow. The width of the drain, in the modification shown in the drawing, may remain substantially constant as the depth varies as explained above. This construction enables the sewer or drain 9 to promptly accommodate the volume of water pouring into it from the multiplicity of openings along its length in which grids 10 are inserted.

The drain or sewer of the present invention may be constructed on either or both sides of the street, and the wall 9 may be poured at the same time as the base 3, forming a monolithic structure therewith, or the wall 9 may be poured first and then the base 3 formed against the wall 9, the setting of the cement of the base 3 causing the union of the base 3 with the wall 9.

Having described my invention, I claim:

A drain or sewer comprising a gutter base running along the side of a street, a curb joined to said gutter base and extending downwardly for a distance below said gutter base for forming one side of the drain, a confining wall running along said curb inwardly thereof and joined to said gutter base, whereby a drain space is formed below said gutter base and the gutter base forms the top of the drain, a bottom for the said drain space joining the extended curb and said confining wall, the parts being so disposed in relation to each other that the ordinate of depth of said drain increases in the direction of flow of said drain at such a rate that the slope of the bottom of the drain is greater than the slope of the surface from which the water is conducted into the drain, whereby solid matter carried by surface water into the drain will be carried away under ground by a greater head than under which it was collected by surface water.

JOHN H. RAFFERTY. 

